Modeling and Analysis of Flexible-Wheel Suspension Concept

Flexible-wheel (FW) suspension concept has been recently proposed and regarded to be one of the novel technologies for future ground vehicles as well as planetary surface rovers. The FW concept generally integrates stiffness/damping components within an airless tire and wheel unit, to offer considerably potential benefits in decoupled ride and handling, compact and lightweight design, enhanced traction, road-holding, road-friendliness, driving safety and fuel efficiency. This study attempts efforts to develop generalized models for fundamental stiffness and damping properties of the FW suspension concept. Based on the generalized models, suspension properties are analyzed for two different FW design configurations. The generalized analytical formulations of the suspension properties of conceptual FW suspension designs would serve as a preliminary theoretical foundation for the development of FW suspension systems for future vehicle applications.